We're home!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thank you all for your prayers! By the Lord's kindness and grace, we are all home safe and sound. :) We look forward to seeing you and sharing the Lord's faithfulness in Rwanda with each one of you.

Blessings!

The Rwanda Nursing Team

Abafilipi 1:6
"Icyonzi Neza Rwose Ntashidikanya, Nuko Iyatangije Umurimo Mwiza Murimwe Izawurangiza Rwose, Kugeza Ku Munsi Wa Yesu Kristo."

Philippians 1:6
"And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

Highlights

We have an hour or so before we board our plane to Nairobi so we thought we would give you a bulletpoint version of our trip that you can ask us details on later :)

1/4/10-1/6/10: LAX to London to Nairobi to Burundi to Kigali
--Gospel shared with Payal and good God-dIrected conversation with Leith
--We are greeted at the airport by Jean Paul (our driver), J.P. and Moses
--Go to Kigali hospital...lots of rain!

1/7/10: Kigali memorial center and Gisimba Orphange

1/8/10: Drive 3 hours to Kibuye
--Intro to Kibuye hospital and meet Dr. Paulin
--Loudest downpour ever!

1/9/10: First day in hospital
--We meet Pastor Thomas for the first time. He prayed over us individually and anoints our hands with oil as we prepare our hearts and hands to glorify the Lord Jesus
--Jump into working in the different units: Marla & Emily in surgery/wound, Sharayah in pediatrics, and Lisa & Amanda in maternity
--Couple of us got to help with a c-section
--St. Jean's coffee house

1/10/10: Go to Good News Church (Pastor Damascene) for worship--SO amazing!!!!
--Kibuye hospital staff "secret santa" party that we were so graciously invited to and made a part of

1/11/10: First official day at hospital
--Get to know staff and patients, learning as we go and always relying on the Lord for strength
--Couple more deliveries we got to a part of
--Kirambo clinic
--Meet Pastor Justin

1/12/10: Hospital
--Learn that one of our C/S pts from the day before went to be with the Lord
--Rubengera clinic
--Genocide memorial sites

1/13/10: hospital work day
--We made some more friends :)
--Another huge thunder and lightning storm

1/14/10: Hospital work day
--Treatment guardians
--Met some more of the pastors in the area

1/15/10:
--Hospital in the morning
--Market, Lake Kivu tour: Napolean and Peace Island
--Got caught in a thunder and lIghtning storm on the lake
--Invited to Dr. Paulin's house for dinner and fellowship

1/16/10: sort through the hospital storage bin with some of the staff in the morning
--Pastor dinner (God-glorified for our mutual encouragement :))

1/17/10: Visit Presbyterian Church in Kirambo
--Kibuye mountain walk

1/18/10: last day in hospital :(
--Director of Kibuye hospital takes us to an island with drinks and food provided to thank us (wow)

1/19/10: Say goodbye to staff during morning report and drive back to Kigali
--Visit Gisimba again
--Dinner at Eric and Bonita's and meet Pastor Gil and Pastor Straton

1/20/10: We meet Sandrali and prepare to leave

Thanks for yours prayers!

Philippians 1:6

We left the quiet beauty of Kibuye yesterday. Now we are at Hotel Gorillas in Kigali. We’ve all had hot showers, slept in clean beds, packed our suitcases, and are ready to embark on the journey home yet there still appears to be a piece of us still left in Kibuye. It’s hard to describe all that has happened in the last two and a half weeks; now we find ourselves leaving a place that has become dear to us.

We know that our contact hasn’t been as frequent as we all thought it would be but we know that you were praying for us none the less, and for that we thank you.

Your prayers were at work here. It might take us days, months, or years to process everything but through it all we know that we were prayed for and supported by our family in Christ. Know that your family here in Rwanda is praying for all of you with all joy as well. The pastors: Pastor Justin, Pastor Thomas, Pastor Damascene, Pastor Velaz, Pastor Emmanuel, Pastor Jean Marie, Pastor Gil, and Pastor Straton, all send their heart-felt greetings to you all and especially thank our families for allowing us to come out to Kibuye to serve.

Our hearts are full of gratitude and thanks for everything that the Lord has done: that which was seen and unseen while we were here. It became even more apparent that our God is a God of faith and trust on this trip.

We look forward to sharing more details with you in person. There is much to glorify the Lord for.

Until we see each other face to face,

The Rwanda Nursing Team

Imana iguhe umugisha!

Muraho everyone! We have some internet access at the hospital which we are only at during the day and we usually don't have time to write because we're with patients (we're using the last bit of our lunch break currently.)

There is so much to tell and so little time. Yesterday was probably one of the most emotional days we've had since we've been here. A little boy born on Monday lost his mommy yesterday. Lisa and Amanda (who are working in maternity) were closer to her due to the circumstances (we can expound more later). Please pray for the family and for the two little children she left behind. We also visited two crucial genocide sites (also very hard and sobering). We were exhausted by the end of the day. The Lord's mercies are truly new every morning and His faithfulness is SO great. There are so many great opportunities to minister and fellowship with both patients and staff! We are so blessed.

We covet and thank you profusely for your prayers. We are nothing without the Lord.

Imana iguhe umugisha!

The Rwanda Nursing Team

Muraho! We apologize for not writing for awhile! We are in kibuye but don't have Internet where we are staying. Thanks for the prayers!

Mwiriwe!

and so it begins...from LAX we had a 10.5 hour flight that took us from the beautiful temperatures of southern California to the below freezing temperatures in London. Grateful to be able to stand, we managed to sight-see the city for about an hour before coming back to the airport to get ready for another long flight from London/Heathrow to Nairobi, Kenya. Most of us were able to get at least some sleep on the second flight which was a blessing :) (Glenn even managed to confiscate three seats to stretch out...tricky tricky) From Nairobi, we flew into Burundi then straight onto Kigali. Definitely a joyous landing for all!

31 hours later, all six of us are quite tired, elevating our feet, happy to be lying flat, and very grateful to the Lord for our safe passage to Kigali, Rwanda. :) The country is absolutely stunning! We even had our first thunderstorm with probably the hugest raindrops we've ever seen! We also toured the local Kigali hospital which was fascinating. The doctors and medical staff welcomed us and very kindly gave us tours in the middle of their work day. We were given a tour through the maternity, pediatric, internal medicine and pediatric HIV ward.

We are currently back at the guesthouse we are staying in, trying to stay awake until a decent bedtime hour. :) Tomorrow we will be visiting the genocide memorial and also the orphanage that Glenn and Elizabeth adopted Noah, Cynthia, and Erica. :) We might also visit the hotel that inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda. It's right up the street from where we are...very sobering.

A couple of prayer requests:
First, that we might be able to receive a good night's rest tonight...the travel as drained us and we still have a long road ahead...literally and figuratively. Kibuye is about a 3 hour drive from Kigali on a very windy road.
Second, please pray for Payal and Leith. Payal was a girl in her twenties who was on the flight to Kenya. The Lord opened the door for the gospel to be presented to her, so please pray that the seeds that were planted would continue to grow. Leith was a man in his thirties who was on the flight from Kenya to Rwanda. After some philosophical discussion took place, he was encouraged to read both The Abolition of Man and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. He expressed interest in reading them, so please pray that that seed will also continue to grow! :)
Third, Lisa's luggage was lost in transit. Please pray it comes quickly since we'll only be here (in Kigali) till Friday.

Thank you all so much for your prayers!

Imana aguhe umugisha (God bless you)!

The Rwanda Nursing Team
Glenn, Marla, Emily, Sharayah, Amanda, and Lisa

Almost there! We're in Kenya waiting for our connecting flight to Rwanda. Will post more when we can! :) Blessings to you!